Furniture construction and method



Jan. 6, 1942. s. NUSINOW FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD Filed Feb; 19, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 50m ue.\ Nusmow.

Jan. 6, 1942. s. NUSINOW FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD I Filed Feb. 19, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Jan. 6, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,268,843 FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD Samuel Nusinow, Baltimore, Md. I Application February 19, 1940, Serial No. 319,772

3Claims.

This invention relates to furniture construction and more particularly to upholstering arrangements and methods involving the covering of stuffed inner spring sections of furniture including sofa beds, maple pieces, gliders, and other 'common to mount upon a wooden frame a series of coil springs tied together by twine which is nailed to the rails of the frame to be upholstered.

Generally springs 14 inches long are used which springs are compressed by twine until they are only about 8 inches long.- This prior construction, when in use, is such that very large internal stresses are set up within th upholstered portions, particularly the seat of an upholstered piece of furniture, so that the life of the said piece of furniture is materially shortened. Almost invariably the first part of prior'furniture construction to need repair is the seat for the reason that the inherent great stresses set up therewithin, when the furniture is in use, either tear the twine or pull it away from its anchorage. Another great disadvantage to this prior construction is that the softness of the springs has been destroyed and cushions must be resorted to in order to make the furniture comfortable for sitting purposes. 7

Prior upholstered pieces of furniture have for so long followed definite trends with regard to style that in some cases it is almost necessary that the style be simulated if the furniture is to be acceptable to the trade, even though the construction'of such prior pieces of furniture leaves much to be desired to the user from the viewpoint of comfort, long life, and cost.

Prior upholstered automobile seats have been found to be relatively uncomfortable in View of the fact that a single seat construction is utilized which single seat must accommodate two or three passengers. In conventional single seat automobile construction, a heavy passenger on one side tends to make an adjacent lighter passenger uncomfortable because of the relative variance in compression of the springs and the transmitting of stress to said springs from the area occupied by one passenger to the area occupied by a second passenger. This disadvantage is also inherent in single seat house furniture where the single seat is to accommodate more than one person.

It is an object of the instant invention to provide a piece of upholstered furniture which is relatively comfortable, low in manufacturing cost, conventional in style, easy to manufacture and long-lived in nature.

'It" is a further object of the instant invention to provide a novel, comfortable, inexpensive automobile seat.

It is still another object of the instant invention to provide a simulated multi-pillow sofa section;

Fig, .4 is a fragment of a transverse sectional view of the sofa shown in Fig. 1 with a portion of one simulated pillow torn away in order to show the'means for securing the fabric of the cover of the simulated pillows to the frame of the sofa;

Fig. 4a is a view similar to Fig. 4, but illustrating a modified arrangement for securing the fabric to the frame.

Fig. 5 is a fragment of a transverse sectional view disclosing how the rear portion of thefabric of the simulated pillow construction is fastened to the frame of the sofa;

Fig. 6 is a fragment of a front elevation of the sofa shown in Fig. 1 with portions of the front of adjacent simulated pillows cut away to show how the side portions of the fabric of adjacent simulated pillows is secured to the frame.

, Fig. 7 is, a view in perspective of a modified sofa in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 8 is.a view of the sofa shown in Fig, 7 before'the stuffing and fabric have been applied and with the upper portion of the sofa broken Fig. 9 is a bottom view of the spring construction of one unit for a simulated pillow seat; and

Fig. 10 is a front elevational view with parts broken away of a simulated pillow seat suitable for use in an automobile.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, the sofa 20 comprises aback'2l, arms 22, simulatedpillows 23 and legs 24 secured to a frame including a verse rails 21, and a lower rear rail 28.

lower side rail 25, a lower front rail 26, transframe may also include arm rails 29, intermediate side rails 30 and an intermediate back rail 3|.

The coil springs 32 may be mounted on transverse metal rails 33 which are secured at their front and rear to the lower front frame rail 26 and the lower rear frame rail 28. The upper portions of the springs 32 may be framed with wire, but each frame is to be no larger than one simulated pillow. The upper portions of the springs may also be tied together with small helical springs H or twine, but the springs are left unrestrained throughout their longitudinal axes. The coil springs 32 may also be mounted on a criss-cross arrangement of wires supported on burlap, wood slats, or other supports associated with the frame. The upper portion of the springs may also be tied by means of crimped wire and cross links of wire or by other suitable means as desired.

Prior to covering the sofa seat, conventional stuffing 34 is applied over muslin, or burlap or the like which covers the outer ends of the springs. The covering for each of the simulated pillows involves a generally horizontal planular top 35 sewed to a generally vertical relatively narrow side portion '35 which extends completely around the simulated pillows, and instead of the conventional bottom, vertical depending portions 31 extend from the side portions 33. The-vertically depending portions 3! extend downwardly on all four sides of each simulated. pillow. The top 35 and the side 36, and the side 33 and the depending portions 3'! are stitched together with a bead margin 38 as shown in Fig. 2.

The depending portions 3'! on the sides of the two outer simulated pillows are secured to the outer side 39 of the lower side rail 25 as shown in Fig. 3 with the fabric 40 on the inner: side of the arm 22 extending thereover with upholstery tacks 4! or other securing means holding the two pieces of fabric in overlapping relation to the outer side of thelower side rail 25. In the front of the sofa, see Fig. 4, a piece of covering material is stretched over the outside of the lower front frame rail 26 and over its upper edge and onto its back 42. The depending portion 31 of the fabric of the simulated pillows which depends from the front thereof is passed in overlapping relation with the fabric on the rear side 42 of the lower front frame rail 26. are secured to the rear side 42 of the rail 26 by the tacks 4| or other fastening means. The depending portions 31 extending from the rear of the simulated pillows are passed over the back 43 of the lower rear rails 28 and the fabric 44 on the inside of the back 2| of the sofa is passed over the depending-portions 37 which are adjacent the rear. 43 of the rail 28, and these overlapping portions are secured to the lower rear rail 28 by the upholstery tacks 4| or other suitable fastening means. The depending portions 31, see Fig. 6, depended from the sides of adjacent simulated pillows are pulled down beneath the transverse frame rail 21 and across its bottom. The overlapping depending portions 31 are secured to the lower side 44 of the transverse rail 21 by the upholstery tacks 4| or other suitable means. Accordingly, it will be understood that the simulated pillows 23 are completely finished on the top and sides and have depending portions on all sides secured to the frame so that the completed sofa gives the appearance of a piece of furniture having separate pillows, whereas in fact the sofa involves .a disjointed seat arrangement comfort- These overlapping portions able to individual users of a sofa, in accordance with the invention, simultaneously, for the great weight of one user will not influence the seat under the body of a lighter user of an adjacent independent area.

Referring to Fig. 4a, a modified form. of upholstering arrangement is effected by lapping the depending portions or bands 36a of the simulated pillows 23a over the outside of the frame member. 26a, applying an independent simulated bead thereto as shown, then arranging the reverse side of the fabric F which is to cover the frame member 28a over the extension 3811 of the bead 38a. with the fabric extending upwardly instead of downwardly. The three elements mentioned (3611,3817, and F) are then secured to the frame 23a by the upholstery tacks 4 la or by other suitable means and the fabric F turned downwardly so as to expose the proper side and the bottom thereof secured to the bottom of the frame member 26a.

Referring to Figs. '7, 8 and 9, the sofa I00 comprises aback IOI, arms I02, legs I03.andseat I04 which includes three simulated pillow units as best shown in Fig. 7. The spring units A, B and C may be similar to that utilized in the sofa- 20 shown in Fig. 1 and comprise coil springs I05 and the wire frame I06 secured to the upper portion of the springs by the clips I01. The upper ends of'the springs may be tieditogether by the helical coils H, see Fig. 9, or twine. The lower ends of the coils are mounted on "the transverse bars I08 which are secured to intermediate front and rear frame rails. The spring unit construction shown inFig. 9' is suitable .for use in chairs as'wellas in simulated pillow sofas so that :the construction recited readily lends itself to mass production as no special construction is necessary for different pieces of furniture.

The sides I02 and the back IOI of the sofa I00 maybe upholstered in a 'moreor less conventional manner, but the seat covering, may be pieced together as best shown in Fig. '7 and then applied to the sofa seat I04 as one asernbled seat covering'with divisions I09 and with each seat unit neatly margined at its upper. portion by the bead I I0. The lower portions of the divisions I09 may or may not be tacked to a transverse rail such as described in connection with the sofa 20 so that the completed covered sofa will have the appearance of a style incorporating removable pieces, yet the sofa will be less expensive to manufacture and more comfortable. .The sofa I00 will be extremely comfortable for users because each ;of the units A, B, and C will react to the comfort of an individualuser independently of adjacent units. Further, thecoil springs of the individual units A, B, and C are unrestrained vertically and are not tied down as in conventional sofa construction'whichrequires-pillows. In a conventional sofa theuser first sinks into the pillow and then receives a. shock as the springs already under compressionassume the load. In other words, in conventional sofa construction the progressive resiliency of the seat is not uniform. and the reaction while the load is being applied is not as comfortable as the corresponding reaction of the construction shown in the drawings. As the units are independent, the reaction of one unit does notaffect the reaction of adjacent units as already described.

The multi-pillow simulated construction described in connection with.the.sofa. 20 and the sofa I00 may beusedinthe construction .of au- 10, is particularly adapted for use in an automobile, either in the front or in the back thereof.

7 In the front of an automobile it is essential to the comfort of the driver and the safety of the passengers that the driver be least disturbed by the movement of adjacent passengers. Accordingly, the seat 200 includes units D, E, and F which are independent in action and may comprise a frame of wood, metal or other suitable material, including transverse members or other bottom supports 2M, back rail 202 and a correports the three individual spring units such as shown in Fig. 9, each of which is adapted to be upholstered and covered with simulated pillow coverings including a horizontal planular top 203 and narrow sides 204 depending from the top 203 on all sides and secured to the top 203 by a stitched bead 205. The depending side portions 204 may be secured to the front and back frame rails and the transverse rails 20! by upholstery tacks or other securing means to effect a neatly finished appearance of the construction described which is extremely advantageous when utilized in an automobile for the individual comfort of all passengers is assured without additional expense to the manufacturer; the describedseat construction being no more expensive than conventional automobile seat construction.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in this device without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is: a,

1. In seat construction, the combination of a base and a plurality of juxtaposed seating units arranged in association therewith; said base comprising a front rail, a rear rail and a plurality of transverse rails; said seating units comprising a plurality of substantially immediately adjacent independent spring sections each including a plurality of coil springs and a generally rectangular frame at the upper portion thereof for tying together the said coil springs completely about the upper outer margins; a cover for saidseating units; said cover being permanently secured to said base and comprising a plurality of substantially immediately adjacent simulated pillow units each including a generally planular top and a depending continuous skirt extending completely around the sides of a spring section; the bottom of each of said skirts being secured at its front to the front rail, at its rear to the rear rail, and at its sides to the said transverse rails; whereby said finished seat will be unitary in construction while comprising a plurality of independent units simulating juxtaposed pillows.

2. A furniture seat constructed in accordance with claim 1, said transverse rails extending below the lowermost portions of the sides, of said spring sections, the skirts corresponding to said spring sections extending below the lowermost portions of said spring sections and being I001].- nected to said transverse rails at a location below the lowermost portions of said spring sections, the skirts being provided with horizontal beading completely around the top thereof and at'the front and sides at a level corresponding to the bottom of each spring section whereby each seating unit will be independent of the adjacent. seating unit even at the very bottom thereof and the appearance of the combination will more closely approach loose pillow seat construction.

3. An automobile seat constructed in accordance with claim 1; said frontrail, said rear rail, and said transverse rails all being in the same horizontal plane; the skirts of said cover each extending to the lowermost portions of said base and being secured thereto.

' SAMUEL NUSINOW. 

